Karl Marx

Capital Volume One

1875

AFTERWARD TO THE

FRENCH EDITION

Mr. J. Roy set himself the task of producing a version
that would be as exact and even literal as possible, and has scrupulously
fulfilled it. But his very scrupulosity has compelled me to modify his
text, with a view to rendering it more intelligible to the reader. These
alterations, introduced from day to day, as the book was published in parts,
were not made with equal care and were bound to result in a lack of harmony
in style.

Having once undertaken this work of revision, I was led to apply
it also to the basic original text (the second German edition), to simplify
some arguments, to complete others, to give additional historical or statistical
material, to add critical suggestions, etc. Hence, whatever the literary
defects of this French edition may be, it possesses a scientific value
independent of the original and should be consulted even by readers familiar
with German.

Below I give the passages in the Afterword to the second German
edition which treat of the development of Political Economy in Germany
and the method employed in the present work.

Karl Marx

London

April 28, 1875